Thursday, June 5, 2008

Abortion: still the most important issue

Having just cast my ballot here in New Mexico’s primary election, I wish to say a brief word concerning this year’s heated political season.Now, it is very important that I am the Rover’s Ethics and Religion editor and not its Politics editor.Yet, with Aristotle we must maintain that ethics and politics are inseparably tied.

My ethical/political contention for this election season is that despite the many issues of which one may be passionate, the most important is still abortion.Granted, I am not (nor have I ever been) a fan of the war in Iraq.To date, 4091 Americans have heroically lost their lives in this war effort lasting over 5 years.As horrible as this is, it is even more horrible that the same number of babies (~4000) are murdered everyday within this country, through the atrocity of abortion.As terrible as a bad economy and ridiculously high gas prices are, the human death toll among the most innocent infinitely outweighs any economic costs.Whatever one’s “pet issue” might be, abortion is vastly more important.Just looking at the numbers, abortion is the greatest tragedy that has ever befallen humanity—and this notwithstanding the heart-rending stories of those who suffer from the aftermath of abortion, especially the mothers.

From a religious standpoint in regards to abortion, let me say a brief word about Ancient Israel’s idolatrous worship of the god, Moloch—this is a powerful apology for the Church’s position against abortion.It is abundantly clear that Churchteaches that one absolutely cannot be both pro-choice and Catholic; if one is a Catholic one is, by definition, pro-life.But everybody knows this.Fewer people know about Moloch worship.Of all the “gods” who Ancient Israel continuously fell to in idolatry the worst was always Moloch.Recent archaeologists have discovered remains of this ancient near-eastern idol that can be read about in Leviticus chapter 20 (among other places).The idol stood erect with its hands joined and extended directly outward in front of its body by which it could “receive” its oblations.On its hands there were burning coals.Now what made this idol so bad was that the sacrifice offered to it was always a child sacrifice.One would put one’s child on the burning coals, where it would struggle until finally being burned to death.

In the Old Testament, God did not put up with this awful practice as more than anything else, Moloch worship brought down divine vengeance (and rightly so).Nor should we put up with abortion today, which is nothing other than a modified form of Moloch worship.The only difference is that we name our idol “convenience,” “finances,” “self-determination” and “choice,” instead of Moloch.

Please, this election season, continue to do the right thing ethically and religiously.Please continue to vote for the pro-life candidate.

7 comments:

I never hear about divorce or birth control any more. Priestly celebacy doesn't seem to be an issue either, as long as the participants are discrete and age appropriate.

Abortion, like all of these issues is religious in nature. No one is forcing Catholics to have abortions. No one should force non Catholics to abide by the beliefs of the Church in this respect.

Freedom of religion requires respect for others beliefs. The mistake that the founding fathers made, was in allowing people with intolerant religious beliefs to settle here. It was only a matter of time before they began to bring the inquisition out into the open, pretending that Catholic dogma is "natural law" and persecuting those that stand up against it.

The vast majority of Catholics respect the beliefs of others, even if they find them personally repugnant. There are some philosophical descendants of Torquemada, who do not and make it bad for everyone.

Those who are uncomfortable with tolerance should move to a country where Catholicism is the State Religion and apostasy and heresy are punished appropriately. You will only find rejection and unhappiness in a free society like America.

It doesn't take a Catholic to see that abortion is murder reddog. And murder is against the law! Yet America continues to carve up their very own mothers and kill their sons and daughters. And speaking as a Catholic, I DO NOT respect the beliefs of others who are pro-abortion. I abhor those beliefs. As does any orthodox Catholic. You are either for Him or against Him. There is no in between. And Christ is pro-life!

Reddog,The glaring problem with your remarks is that in your opinion there are no moral absolutes, that is, that one is justified simply by one's particular beliefs.In other words, your position is one of moral relativism- that there are no universal moral truths applicable to everyone. This is wrong.

Abortion is not about "respecting others beliefs" or "tolerance" as you say.--it is about declaring what is evil to be evil. It is about defending life.

Catholics (and the Catholic church)are not seeking to "impose" their beliefs on anyone. The Catholic church teaches that abortion is "intrinsically evil" and contrary to natural law. It teaches that life begins at conception, and thus abortion is the death of a human life.

So, Reddog, abortion is not a matter of "tolerance" for others beliefs.

It is a matter of defending life and declaring what is evil to be evil.

Abortion is not a religious issue, but a human rights issue. reddog - like all abortion supporters - has many fine words about "choice" and "tolerance" but very few words for the humans who die for the sake of the All-Sacred Choice. Whither "tolerance" for the unborn child? In a country where the right to life is written into the Declaration of Independence, I fail to see what is dogmatic about protecting that right. I am content to live in a pluralistic society and respect the religious views of others, but there is nothing to be respected or tolerated about child-murder.